WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The House Postal Service funding bill is ready for action in the Senate. Democrats say passing the bill should be a no-brainer.
“The House acted responsibly by not only legislating but appropriating $25 billion and you had a number of Republicans that agreed with them,” Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey said.
Casey says Senate Republicans should schedule a vote on the House bill, which also prohibits any service reductions at the post office through the end of the year.
“If the Senate Republicans want to make changes to it, that is certainly worthy of debate,” Casey said.
Many Senate Republicans remain critical of the Democrats, saying they are blowing the problems at the post office out of proportion.
“I think some of this is just a political firestorm, quite frankly,” West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said.
Capito says the post office does not need the money right now.
“Remember, we did put forward a $10 billion loan to the post office, which I don’t believe they’ve actually accessed yet,” Capito said.
Capito says she would rather work with her Democrat colleagues toward a COVID-19 relief and stimulus bill that includes postal reform and more.
“There’s a lot of other things that are hanging out there that [I’d] like to see us take care of: small businesses, vaccines, school openings and all those kinds of things,” Capito said.
Both the House and Senate return to the Capitol after Labor Day.
